Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912

Hugel, Sylvain, Warren, Ben H. & Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure, 2021, The Phalangopsidae crickets (Orthoptera, Grylloidea) of the Seychelles Archipelago: Taxonomy of an ecological radiation, Zootaxa 5047 (3), pp. 201-246 : 223-225

Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912

( Figs 1D–E , 10 , 11 , 12 , Table 6)

Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912: 286 .

Type locality. Seychelles, Silhouette , viii.1908 (Lectotype, here designated); Mah, Cascade Estate, ii.1909 (paralectotype, here designated) .

Type material. Two female syntypes exist for this species, one from Mahé ( NHM), and the other from Silhouette ( CUMZ) (see Paris (1991)). Both are identified by Bolivar (manuscript labels), but additional labels not from Bolivar indicate ‘type’ for the female from Mah, and ‘cotype’ for the female from Silhouette; Huxley also identified the female from Mahé as a “ lectotype ” but never published it. As no specimen from P. fuscus could be found from Mah, despite intensive search, we designated here the female from Silhouette as the lectotype of P. fuscus , in order to stabilize the taxonomy of this species. The female from Mahé is here designated as paralectotype, but the presence of P. fuscus , or a close species, on Mahé island will have to be confirmed by additional field work.

Examined material. Seychelles, Silhouette , Jardin Marron vers Mt Pot à eau,> 400m, vue de nuit, 1 male (2010SEYSH185), MNHN-EO-ENSIF12265; same, 1 female (2010SEYSH186), MNHN-EO-ENSIF12266; same, 1 male, in alcohol (2010SEYSH192), 5.x.2010, S. Hugel, alcohol collection tube 684; MNHN-EO-ENSIF12267; same, 1 female in alcohol (2010SEYSH193), 5.x.2010, S. Hugel, alcohol collection tube 685; MNHN-EO-EN- SIF12268 .

Molecular sampling. LDG 135 in Chintauan-Marquier et al. (2013, 2016) and Warren et al. (2019), and LDG 373 in Warren et al. (2019).

Diagnosis. As for the genus.

Redescription. In addition to the characters of the genus:

General morphology. TIII inner serrulation: no spine in male, zero to one spine in female before isa1; one to two spines in male, three spines in female between isa1 and isa2; three spines in males, four spines in female between isa2 and isa3; 4–5 spines in male, 5–7 spines in female between isa3 and isa4; 12 spines in male, 12–14 spines in female above isa4. TIII outer serrulation: no spine in male, zero to one spine in female before osa1; three to four spines in male, four to five spines in female between osa1 and osa2; five spines in male, four to six spines in female between osa2 and osa3; seven to eight spines in male, eight to nine spines in female between osa3 and osa4; 10–11 spines in male, 10–14 spines in female above osa4. Basitarsomeres III with one in male, none in female, inner dorsal spine; four in male, five in female outer dorsal spines, in addition to apical spines.

Coloration. Face brown ( Fig. 10B ); a wide yellow line from lower angle of each eye to posterior angle of mandible; a pair of short yellow lines between antennal pits and epistemal suture, widened below and along the eye. Ocelli yellow. Preclypeus with a short, transverse yellow line on each side. Labrum whitish more or less marked with brown. Dorsally, inner margin of eyes marked with yellow, this line prolonged as a thick band toward occiput. Fastigium black with a pair of wide and short yellow lines mediodorsally, not reaching the median ocellus, and separated by a thin black brown line bearing strong dark brown setae. Maxillary palpi brown, their dorsal margin yellow. Femora dark brown ( Fig. 10E ); tibiae lighter but not annulate; apex of subapical TIII spurs yellow; apical spurs more yellowish, at least in males. Tergites dark brown with brown to yellowish setae.

Male. FWs brown, lighter than the body; venation yellowish brown ( Fig. 10C ). FW lateral field with two longitudinal veins ( Fig. 10D ); dorsal field with six longitudinal veins ( Fig. 10C ). Cerci and base of supra-anal plate dirty yellow ( Fig. 10F ).

Male genitalia. As on Figure 12 .

Female. Ovipositor shorter than FIII ( Fig. 11B ).

Female genitalia. Copulatory papilla membranous dorsally and with a distinct ventral process, as on Figure 11C–E .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phalangopsidae crickets from the Seychelles in the wild. A, Paragryllodes nitidula (Bolivar, 1912) n. comb., female. B, Phaloria (Papuloria) bolivari Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., male. C, same, female. D, Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912, male. E, same, female. F, Phalangacris ferlegro Hugel & Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp. male, G, same, female.

FIGURE 10. Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912, male specimen MNHN-EO-ENSIF12265:A, habitus, dorsal view; B, face; C, D, head, pronotum and forewings, dorsal (C) and side (D) views; E, hindfemur; F, terminalia, dorsal view. Abbreviations: epc., epiproct; m.p., maxillary palpus; pc, paraproct; sgen., subgenital plate. Scale bars 1 mm.

FIGURE 11. Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912, female specimen MNHN-EO-ENSIF12266: A, habitus in dorsal view; B, ovipositor, side view; C–E, copulatory papilla in dorsal (C), ventral (D) and side (E) views. Scale bars 2 mm (A, B), 0.1 mm (C–E).

FIGURE 12. Phaeogryllus fuscus Bolivar, 1912. Male genitalia of specimen MNHN-EO-ENSIF12265 in dorsal (A), ventral (B) and side (C) views. Abbreviations see Material and methods.